deficit, including a series of tax hikes and spending cuts that could cripple the local and national economy. so congress has just 16 scheduled working days to stop that from happening. what will the likely solution be? probably putting off a fix. instead of trying to wrangle a compromise, congress will likely pursue one of several options. a public policy and lobbying law firm, a big time washington institution released a 124-page paper. it predicts what will happen in the next 50 some odd days. a plan getting a lot of attention. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have floated a short- term downpayment. this would cut $20 billion to $75 billion right now and delay the bigger picture $600 billion goal for three to six months, maybe as long as a year. the power brokers in these talks could very well become the gang of eight. this is a bipartisan group of senators. they have actually worked together in the past to hammer out deals. among them is virginia senator mark warner. he will be one to watch over the next two weeks. the president and a group of bipartisan congressional leaders will